PN:
Joe’s Comment – The affects and effects of Winter Madness and Cabin Fever accelerate at the end of January. Next week, the ugliest stepchild of the month family takes the stage. Deep thoughts galore, but to no avail. Study the great thoughts of the greater minds all winter but no reprieve until March! What a dilemma! I want a pony.
Musical Interlude
The Internet is a human apex reward / phenomenon.
Where else could you find Hitler singing AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck”?:
Roe vs Wade and Doe vs Bolton
Joe and I hang our collective head in shame, personal and cultural.
45 years ago this week, the U.S. started down a morally corrupt path, with Canada keeping pace in our own inimitable way.
As a young man, I thought little of it, outside the fantasy that I might (doG willing) have a sex life.
It is estimated that since the tragic (also immoral, illogical, and corrupt) decision of the American Supreme Court in 1973, the number of children murdered in the womb is in excess of 60,000,000. That’s right, almost twice the population of Canada.
In Canada the number is approximately 10% or 6,000,000 for what are we Canadians if not a pale smaller (and colder) mirror of our brothers and sisters to the south.
Our wry conclusion would be that men and women are fond of fornicating, somewhat less fond of parenting. And quite cavalier about assuming responsibility for the very possible outcome of “successful” copulation, i.e., the miracle of reproduction.
The particularly gruesome revelations of Planned Parenthood selling fetal parts as a byproduct of abortion is a condemnation of Western culture and human morality.
Joe and I thought that these facts accompanied by testimony and video, would raise the ire of moral people to the point of confrontation.
And it did.
The people responsible for gathering the damning evidence against Planned Parenthood are being sued in various states and districts for violating privacy!
David Daleiden and Sandra Susan Merritt are heroes to Joe and me. We linked to uncomplimentary sources to show the bias against their undercover journalism.
Roe vs Wade in the U.S. changed the Federal law regarding abortion in 1973, which usurped all existing State and communal sensibilities.
Doe vs Bolton was a parallel abortion legislation case specific to Georgia, which was decided simultaneously with Roe vs Wade.
Between the two trials all the State requirements for legal abortion were replaced with a “pro choice” philosophy grounded in the “privacy rights” of the mother.
In Canada, it was 1969 when the Trudeau government (ring a bell?) relaxed the abortion laws. In 1988 the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that it was a violation of the mother’s rights to deny government funded abortion, and overruled all Provincial legislation on the matter.
A short history of abortion law in Canada here. A quote from the article –
“Meanwhile, the fetal rights issue was ultimately decided in the 1989 case Tremblay v Daigle, in which the Supreme Court found that only a person had constitutional rights, and that such rights began at the time of live birth. The Court also decided that the father of a fetus has no proprietary interest in a fetus and may not obtain an injunction to prevent a woman from exercising her right of choice to have an abortion.”
Adding to the shame of Canadian law, there is no last point, up to and including delivery of a viable “fetus” – you can kill the baby as it is being born. Oh! Canada!
Joe and I didn’t sign up for this.
We have heard argument from both sides all our adult life.
There are three facts, undeniable facts, foundational facts underlying all discussion:
1. an egg and sperm must combine to create new human beings (even in a test tube),
2. once combined the resulting growth process will produce a human being of particular and unique characteristics,
3. every person alive today survived their mother’s decision (a few children are aborted and lived – most are permitted to live by their mother’s will).
An assumption – outside of unnatural process, you don’t get pregnant without intercourse.
A fact – in human biology, a successful zygote (cell produced by gametes – egg and sperm) is carried by one, not both, parents. In humans that person is the female, often referred to as “Mother”. Unfair? Yes or no, it is fact.
As you can see in the picture above, this is not a carrot or a budgie, or an aardvark. It is an unborn child.
God have mercy on us all.
Feminist Lefty vs Jordan Peterson
Joe and I watched this “interview” of Dr. Jordan Peterson by a young lefty feminist interviewer named Cathy Newman on British channel 4.
Our impression was the cognitive dissonance Ms. Newman experienced was at certain moments physically apparent. At one instance she was completely flummoxed. Dr. Peterson says it like he sees it and has no particular axe to grind with the young lady although she was attacking his views. For your viewing pleasure:
This interview went viral on YoubeTube (over 3 million views in less than 2 days), and trended in the top 10 on Twitter. This is a clash of (in our not so humble opinion) the rational vs the emotional and ill informed. Dr. Peterson’s new book, “12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos” has since gone to number 1 in Canada and number 3 in Britain (Amazon). The back-lash of the interview is gathering momentum, and Dr. Peterson feels there is much negativity coming as a result. Here is an interview of Dr. Peterson with Mr. Timon Dias, and editor from the Amsterdam blog named GeenStijl, wherein they analyze the interview with Cathy Newman, discuss the post interview fallout, then more generally, Dr. Peterson’s weltanschauung:
Willy Soon(er than later)
Joe and I enjoyed this video of Dr. Willy Soon (study the sun, man!) because of his energy, his humour, his passion, and his data. His lovely, logical, rational data.
The forces of science are being distracted from their real work in a direct proportion to how bloody stupid the government CO2 knee-jerk reaction is, and how shrill the voices of doom squander our treasure on pea-and-shell games regarding the climate. Dr. Soon is an aerospace engineer and has studied the sun for 25+ years. His argument is order of magnitude and common sense. The Al Gore tribe hate his guts, which is big juju in Joe’s world:
The SCIENTIFIC study of climate is a complicated undertaking. The belief that carbon dioxide (CO2) is solely responsible for temperature would mean that there was supporting evidence from all of these disciplines (slide from above video) –
Another well presented fact (USA) by Dr. Soon is the amount of subsidization required by various sources of electrical energy. Notice that wind and solar are NOT viable for large scale requirements –
The absolute best graphic from Dr. Soon’s video is the following which compares the ludicrous facts of CO2 reality. Put things into perspective and realize that the government / activist line is a complete lie –
Two points Joe and I will re-iterate:
1. No manly man effort can control the natural and regular seasonal phenomenon that occur every year, i.e. flooding, fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, lightening strikes, et cetera. These events are orders of magnitude beyond the physical capability of current engineering and technology. And orders above orders of magnitude hellish expensive should the engineering solution and technical apparatus be created.
As Joe says, they can’t even put out a doG damn fire. How in the Hell can they control the climate by fucking around with the concentration of an insignificant “green house gas”?
2. All things being equal (i.e. humans are just along for the ride, i.e. i.e. we are less than fleas on a dog) Joe and I would rather it got warmer than colder, would feed the plants more not less, and would concentrate efforts (both scientific and political) on addressing strategies and tactics to adapt to what is inevitable rather than attempt to control the uncontrollable. The climate will change – it always has and it always will until the Sun becomes a red giant and engulfs the earth in flames.
And a final admonition from Joe – Stop frightening the children and stop brainwashing them too. Have you no decency? By the way, we’re on to your “Global World Order” scam.
Joe’s Garage
The Dread Pirate Rourke – There was a sledding accident at the schoolyard on Tuesday. Young Rourke R. slid down the snowy hill and crashed into a classmate. The result was the emergence of the dread Pirate Rourke! Here he is at breakfast on Wednesday, showing off the ultra rare only seen once Honey Nut Cheerio 4-zee (four stuck together as one).
The extent of damage was a scrape above and below the eye socket, and a bruised eyelid. Here is what lies beneath the cross bones patch –
The Dread Pirate Rourke has not slowed down despite this debilitating wound. He was last seen heading for the sledding hill, shouting “Aaarrrrhh Matey!” All the girls on the hill wondered who this dangerous pirate be. The boys all stood back in reverence (and fear). His parrot was not available for comment.
6.0 Litre Blues – Joe and I love our 2006 F350 crew cab e/w 6.0L diesel. True love.
Unfortunately, it is unrequited. We have owned (literally) hundreds of Ford vehicles since 1964. We have driven many miles in Blue Oval badged beauties. And many miles in Blue Oval badged ugly ducks. In all that time since way back when, only once has our Ford de jour NOT got us home. It cacked. It shit the bed. It WAS Found On Road Dead. That was years ago in the ’90’s and was a matter of improper maintenance on Joe’s part. It didn’t stop running but did break a ball joint. Mama mia!
Our F350 recently tried to join the “couldn’t make it home” team. The truck would not start after parking it for an hour while looking at a project across town. Crank, no start. Joe opened the hood, looked inside, cursed, and scratched his head. The batteries wore down with cranking. A friend was there and jumped the batteries. After a further cool down, it started, ran like puke, and made it home.
Joe resorted to the Internet for solution(s). An investment in a ScanGauge II and a bit of programming and testing revealed a bad FICM (fuel injection control module) – it was 20 VDC lower than required (45 VDC minimum) to fire the injectors.
A quick check of sources made us weak at the knees. Our special price at the Ford dealer was over $800 CDN before taxes! Lordco aftermarket (Dorman) was almost $600. Can we fix it our own selves we thought out loud…..
How about the good old US of A?
Time to re-negotiate NAFTA for sure. Half the price, brand spanking new Ford OEM.
What else can be done? We found that there were suggested fixes via YoubeTube. First things first. Let’s remove the FICM, open it up, and make a decision.
Not so easily done.
Ford has been making vehicles since 1903. In 2012, their total vehicle build since 1903 exceeded 350 MILLION!
Joe says you’d think the bastards could build one easy to work on by now.
The FICM is in a ridiculous position – on the driver side valve cover, which extends under the firewall cowl.
It took Joe an hour and much high volume cursing to remove the FICM. The only respite? The wind was calm and it was only 0 degrees Celsius.
Much to our dismay, this is not the original FICM. Nora (the F350) has 360,000 km. on the odometer, and at some time passed the FICM was replaced with a rebuilt unit.
We opened it and found nothing spectacularly FUBARed. Here’s a picture – on the left is the power board that produces 48.5VDC from battery voltage. On the right is the control board that fires each fuel injector according to instruction from the PCM (powertrain control module).
More study. A new power board is available from Dorman for (only!) $250 CDN via Lordco. On Amazon.ca no difference. On Amazon.com as low as $100 USD. That damn NAFTA. Off to Lordco, and shell out shell out. Here’s the new board in place. We put a note in for future explorers –
Joe reassembled the FICM box then waited a week for better weather (it dropped to 15 below). The installation was a CF (cluster f**k) of epic magnitude. Whomever replaced it before broke the mounting system. Joe couldn’t find the rubber mounting bushes or two of the bolts. The three connectors on the back side were a giant prick to reconnect. We found some rubber bushes in the shop and used tywraps to attach the FICM.
Boom! Start and run like a clock.
Joe said it was a shitty job that could have been done in 5 minutes (instead of 3 hours) if they had only mounted the FICM on the firewall, the fender liner, the radiator bulkhead, the dashboard, in the back seat….. anywhere but on the valve cover half under the firewall cowl. Same problem with the old gasoline ignition system using TFI – the thin film ignition module was mounted on the old engines (up to OBD-II) attached to the distributor. The TFI ALWAYS crapped out, usually after 10 years / 100 K km. because of heat cycling / vibration. They finally remote mounted the TFI away from the heat and vibration of the engine.
Joe says we will do the same with the FICM when the weather permits. Only about 60 wires to splice. Damn those Ford engineers. Henry Ford was right in forcing engineers to work on the assembly line for a year before actually engineering anything.
The old guys knew a thing or two…..
POLITICS, POLITICIANS, WACKJOBBERY, HUMOROUS, STUPID
SUNDAY SERMON
The sermon this week is the 15th lecture in the Jordan Peterson “Personality” course, titled “Biology/Traits: The Limbic System”:
Joe loves this stuff. Me too. Viva Dr. Peterson.
WEATHER (OR NOT)
This week in Vernon was an I told you so moment for Joe.
That old sunnuva bitch Winter ain’t hardly started at 38 days in: over a foot of snow this week.
I hesitated to call it “fresh” snow.
We don’t feel fresh or refreshed, more like whatever……
The forecast is for more of the same for the foreseeable future.
Just dandy.
Joe ponders why when the Weather Witch Doctor is correct, it is invariably crappy weather. Some of this happening boss….
Joe (low tide) Mekanic
p.s. Ramirez antidote to Winter Madness® –
